fandomhigh | Music Appreciation, Tuesday period 2

Hannibal nodded at the students once they were seated. "Today we will begin with a bit of opera. For those of you who may not be aware," he nodded at the students from other worlds, "opera is a musical form of drama. It tells a story in song, accompanied generally by an orchestra."

He wrote a title on the board. "Today we will listen to some of La Bohème, an opera by a composer named Giacomo Puccini. It was originally performed in 1896, and set in Paris in the 1840s." He smiled briefly at Cosette ~~assuming she's there~~. "It follows a story of several bohemians - artists and such - and the romance of two of them, Rodolfo and Mimi."

He explained the plot briefly and then played excerpts from a traditional production. When that was done, he said, "Also, there has been a more recent production, set in the 1950s. As one example of how to modernize opera, we have this."

//On the other end of the spectrum,// Jono said, leaning back against a desk and holding up a CD for the class to see, //we have a more modern retelling still, prevalent on the Broadway stage, by the name of ~~meta for~~ RENT. They took it, set it in New York, and then worked in current themes and issues, such as drug abuse and homosexuality, and had AIDS taking the place of the tuberculosis from the original.// He wasn't going to launch into an explanation of those things for the less modern students in the class, because they would never get through the syllabus otherwise. He was learning! //The result is a rock musical that draws parallels to La Bohème in everything from plot elements and character names to samples of the music itself. Here...//

Jono put the disc into the CD player, hit a few buttons, and stood back, letting La Vie Bohème begin to play. Not ~~work~~ school appropriate? Did Jono look terribly as though he cared?

Did Hannibal? These were clearly the coolest teachers in school, you guys.

//Anyway, now that you've listened to three examples of the same, or at least a very similar story told differently over the years, I want us to take some time to discuss it. Talk about what emotions the three pieces made you feel, or discuss the differences in the lyrics and themes between them. If you want to listen to more of one or the other, feel free to ask, and we'll play whatever we have time for through the class period. If you have questions about any of the themes in any of the above, again, ask, and we'll do our best to answer whatever we can.//

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It is long and full of music! And talking! Both of these things.

Oh! Opera! Cosette was definitely interested, especially since Puccini's opera seemed to be set just past her time period. (It was probably a mixed blessing that she had no idea how much Mimi and her mother had in common ~~except Rodolfo wasn't a fraction of the jerk Tholomyès was~~.)

Éponine, if she knew what was going on in this class, would be rolling her eyes about how the details of the bohemian life were probably going right over Cosette's overly-sheltered head.

By the time they got to the modern musical Cosette was thoroughly engrossed in, well, everything. Yes, she found the contemporary music a bit jarring at first, but once she got used to it she liked it just fine. She still preferred the operatic music, but just by a small margin.

Kaylin came in, a bit late, which was pretty good for her, and promptly fell asleep. She'd gotten an emergency call from the midwife's guild last night and hadn't portaled back to Fandom until the sun was already coming up. But she was here! That should count for something!

"Thank you for joining us, Ms. Neya," Hannibal said, rapping on her desk to wake her. "Are you enjoying the music?"

[OOC: As an alternative to getting eaten - detention? :D ]

Kaylin was on her feet, saluting, before she was fully awake. "Yes, Sir! Sorry, Sir! Whatever it was, I swear I won't do it again!"

She looked up at him bleary eyed and pale, confused for a moment about where she was. He wasn't a Hawk... And then her brain caught up with her and her shoulders dropped. This was one of her professors. One of them who really didn't like her.

She sighed, but faced him squarely. "Sorry, Sir. It was a long night, but I know that's not an excuse."

And was just barely awake enough not to say anything about the usefulness - or lack thereof - of the class.

[OOC: Yep! Dropped you an email!]

Well, at least she was respectful; that was a point in her favor.

Taking in her shakiness (and the lack of alcohol on her breath), Hannibal nodded. "Please do attempt to remain awake, Ms Neya. And see me after class."

She nodded and dropped back down into her seat, determined to stay awake through the class, whether it made sense or not. "Yes, Sir."

Cecil was here! He didn't really know the opera parts, but they were pretty nifty. RENT he knew! They'd done it in elementary school.

Because Night Vale.

Music Appreciation, Tuesday period 2

Listen to the lecture, ask questions

Re: Listen to the lecture, ask questions

Re: Listen to the lecture, ask questions

Re: Listen to the lecture, ask questions

Re: Listen to the lecture, ask questions

Re: Listen to the lecture, ask questions

Re: Listen to the lecture, ask questions

Re: Listen to the lecture, ask questions